1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk for storing digital data of multimedia data including audio information and moving image information that are associated with each other, as well as an apparatus and a method for reproducing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, CDs (compact disks) and LDs (laser disks) are known as optical disks for storing and reproducing audio information and/or moving image information.
A CD is an optical disk having a diameter of 12 cm. A CD carries audio information stored thereon which has been quantized by using a linear PCM method. CDs are widely prevalent as a storage medium for music-oriented applications.
An LD is an optical disk having a diameter of 30 cm. An LD carries moving image information stored thereon in the form of analog signals. LDs are widely prevalent as a storage medium for image-oriented applications such as movies.
In addition to such uses, applications which cannot be distinguished to be either simply music-oriented or image-oriented have emerged, e.g., operas and the recently-evolved music clips (i.e., music accompanied by images).
Herein, those uses which cannot be distinguished as either music-oriented or image-oriented will be referred to as being directed to "image-accompanied music".
In the case of applications of image-accompanied music, each user may prefer a different mode of view/listening. Some users may think that the usual video reproduction is sufficient, while others may wish to only enjoy high quality sounds/voices without any images, and yet a number of users may wish to enjoy music in high quality sounds/voices while being able to enjoy interviews and the like along with images.